Double door closet



vMay 14, 1940. H; DERMAN 2,200,329

DOUBLE. DOOR CLOSET Filed Jan. 15, 1938 2 Sheets-Sheet y1 H. DERMAN DOUBLE DOOR CLOSET 2 lSheets-Shea?- 2 Filed Jan. 15, 1938 resented May i4, i940 DGLE DGR CMSET Harry Berman, Lani-citen, Long Xsiand, N. Y.

Application `Vanuary 15, i938, Serial No. lli

9 Claims.

This invention relates to closets preferably of the collapsible or knock-down type, and more particularly to closets constructed of corrugatedor card-board in the back, sides and top and bote tom walls, and utilizing a wood frame at the front of the closet forming a door opening; and the object of the invention is to provide a closet of the characler described with means at the upper and lower portions of the vdoor frame and disposed i@ within the cabinet for supporting spring rollers in connection with the frame to constitute a unit part thereof upon which flexible door or closure members, such/for example as single-faced corrugated sheets rare rolled when the separate door le members are in open position; a further object being to provide the free edges of the doors with iinishing strips which are adapted to be brought together and to interlock when the doors are moved intol closed position, with means for coupling said strips to retain the doorsagainst opening movement; ay further object being to provide means for coupling the strip of one door with the strip of the opposed door so that manual movement of one door will be transmitted to the other door, especially in the operation of moving the doors into closed position, and further to the provision of a coupling means which will permit the movement of one door at a speed greater than.

the other door so that one door will occupy a greater area of the door opening than the other of said doors when both doors are in closed position: and with these and other objects in view the invention consists of a. device of the class and for the purpose specified which is simple in con- 35 struction` eii'lcient in use, and which is constructed as hereinafter described and claimed. K

The invention is fully disclosed in the following specification, of which the accompanying drawings forms a part, in which the separate parts of my invention are designated by suitable reference characters, and in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view through a cabinet made according to my invention with parts 45 of the construction broken away in order to show certain of the parts on an enlarged scale.l

Fig. 2 is a partial section on the line 2-2 of Fig. l and also showing the parts of the construction broken away.

50 Fig. 3 is a partial section 'on the line 3 3 of Fig. 2 with parts of the construction broken away.

Fig. 4 is a view similarto Fig. 1 showing only a part of the construction and showing a modification, and

(Ci. 3l2-190) Fig. 5 is a perspective view of ya cabinet showing another form of construction which I employ.

Insofar as the general structure of the closet or cabinet is concerned, that is to say apart from the structural features of the door frame and its e associated parts, it is the same as that disclosed in my application, Serial No. 173,356 led November 8, 1937, and consists of one part I 0 of corrugated or other paper board folded to form a back wall II and side walls I2. Top and boti@ tom wall parts I3 and Iii are also employed, these parts having anges I3a, I da which extend onto the walls II and I2 and are secured thereto by vsuitable fastener devices to form an elongated cabinet which is open at the front. E@

At the front of the cabinet is a door frame unit I5 which as a unit is detachable with respect to the remainder of the assembled closet. This frame consists of wooden side rails I6 and top and bottom rails I 'l and I8. The side rails have grooves i9 on their opposed surfaces, which grooves open into admission passages 20 at the top and bottom of the frame. In the passages are supported guide rollers 2I for guiding top and bottom door members 22, 22a in their movement 85 into and out'of the grooves I9 and also onto top and bottom spring rollers 23, 23a.

It will be understood that one end of the flexible door members 22, 22a is attached to the respective rollers 23, 23a, and the other free ends there- 80 of are attached to reinforcing and guide strips 28, 25 which are provided at their ends with tongues 24a, 25a which operate in the grooves I9 as the strips 24 and 25 are moved vertically in the door frame. Adjacent surfaces of the strips 2d 35 and 25 are of irregular contour as seen at 26 so as to interlock or overlap when the strips are brought together so as to render the cabinet as near dustproof as possible.

Supported on the inner surface of the strip 25 a0 is a spring catch device 21 having an aperture 28 therein which is adapted to engage a fixed coupling pin 29 forming part of a plate 30 secured to the inner surface of the strip 24. Passed through the plate 3U and the strip 2t is a push- 45 pin 3l, the inner end of which is adapted to engage the spring catch 27 to release the same from the-pin 29 in the operation of uncoupling the door members tol permit automatic movement thereaof into open position by the spring rollers B0 23, a.

It will be understood that any type of iiexible construction may be employed in the door mem bers 22, 22a, and in the construction shown, these door members are composed of what is known as w single-faced corrugated board with the corrugations arranged on the outer surface of the sheet. Supported on the inner surface of the door frame I5 at the upper and lower corner portions thereof are inwardly projecting brackets 32 having laterally pressed domes 33 adjacent their inner ends which are apertured as seen for example at 34 in Fig. 1 to receive the projecting shanks of the spring rollers.

In this connection it will be understood that while the spring rollers may be of conventional construction it is preferred in the present illustration to remove the usual pawls employed for retarding the progress of the rollers so that when the door members 22, 22a are released the same will automatically move into open position, and the tension ofthe rollers will be so adjusted as to provide proper operation of the doors. It is preferred that suitable stops 35 be provided on the rails I B to stop the opening movement of the door members and so as to leave the door members in a partially closed position to shield as much as possible the spring rollers with the material of the door members wound thereon.

The strip 24 is provided with laterally extending metallic straps 36, the ends of which are set inwardly and project beyond the side edges or' the strip 24. Similar straps 36a are attached to the rail 25. Small pulleys 3l are also supported upon the inner surfaces of the upper brackets 32. I also employ two cords, wires or exible strands 38, one end 38a of each of which is attached to the straps 3B, the strand 38 passing upwardly and around the pulleys 3l and then downwardly, and the other ends 38h thereof are attached to the straps 36a. f

It will thus be seen that in manually moving the strip 24 downwardly, the strip 25 through the exible strands 38 is moved upwardly. In both cases, the door members 22, 22a are unwound from the spring rollers against the tension of the springs thereof. When the strips 24 and 25 abut, the spring catch 2l, by virtue of the curved structure thereof, note Fig. 1, will automatically engage the piny 29 and the strips 24 and 25 will be coupled together. By pushing the release pin 3l inwardly, the strips 24 and 25 will be uncoupled and the spring rollers 23, 23a will automatically wind the door members 22, 22a. In this operation the strands 38 act as a balancing means controlling the relative movement of the strips 24, 25 so that said strips will move collectively.

It will appear from a consideration of Figs. 2 and 3 of the drawings that the brackets are arranged in abutting relation to the side walls I2 of the closet. This gives added rigidity to the entire closet structure as well as serving to brace the brackets within the cabinet. In this connection it will also appear that the upper edges of the upper brackets are arranged-adjacent the inner surface of the top wall I3, and the lower edges,

of the lower brackets engage the inner surface of the bottom wall I4. Each bracket 32 is of the same general construction aside from the fact that they may be made lefts and rights and also aside from the particular form of the apertures 34 employed therein for receiving the shanks of the spring rollers.

As previously stated, the door frame and its associated parts constitute the unit I5, which as such, is attachable and detachable with respect to the remainder of the cabinet. In shipment, the collapsed back and side walls are arranged upon one surface of this unit with the top and bottom walls preferably .between the top and bottom other figures.

brackets. At 39 I have shown a conventional garment hanger which is employed when the closet is used as a wardrobe for the storage of various kinds of apparel. The structure of this hanger is clearly shown in the application herein before referred to.

In Fig. 4 of the drawings I have shown a slight modification of the structure shown in Figs. 1 to 3. In these figures 40, 40a represent door members substantially the same as the door members 22, 22a with the exception that the door member 40 is shorter than the door member 40a and will cover, for example, one third of the door opening of the frame unit I5, whereas the door member 40a will cover two-thirds of the door opening. One method of accomplishing this result is to provide strands 4I similar to the strands 38, but instead of coupling the same in the manner shown in Fig. 1, one end 4Ia of the strands 4I is attached to the upper part of the frame and then passes downwardly and around the pulleys 42 attached to the inner surface of a strip 43 on the door 4U, then downwardly and around pulleys 44 similar to the pulleys 3T, and then downwardly, attached as seen at 4Ib to the strip 45 at the free edge of the door 40a.

In other words, with this construction the door 40a together with the strip 45 will move twice as far as the door 4I) and strip 43, but otherwise the construction and operation of the device shown in Fig. 4 will be the same as' that shown in the All other parts than those specifically mentioned in connection with Fig. 4 will be the same as the structure shown in the other iigures, therefore no specific mention will be made thereof. It will be understood, however, that the tension of the rollers controlling the doors 40, 40a will be regulated to control the particular door operation which is provided in Fig. 4.

It will be understood that any type or kind of differential action may be provided between the door members of the cabinet. In Fig. 5 of the drawings I have illustrated diagrammatlcally another adaptation of the structure shown in Fig. 4. In this construction the cabinet Illa has a door frame unit I5a which differs from the unit shown in Figs. l to 4 inclusive primarily in the provision of a transverse subdivlding section 46 having a top rail 41, a bottom rail 48 and a narrow front wall portion 49 preferably 4oi corrugated board to match the upper and lower doors 50, 50a. These doors have at their free edges strips 5I, 52 similar to the strips 43, but which register with the strips 41, 48 respectively rather than with each other. With this construction a catch or coupling device as shown in Figs. 1 and 2 will be arranged between the parts 41 and 5I and will be released by a pin 3Ia similar to the pin 3|.

The only difference in the structure shown 'in Fig. 5 of the drawings resides in the fact that the doorwill move at a greater distance than the door 50a which is simply a reversal of the structure shown in Fig. 4. The cabinet shown in Fig. 5 may be used as a combination short garment support having at its lower end a shoe or other compartment, or the same may be used for various kinds and classes of storage compartments. While I have shown the doors as coupled together for synchronized or joint operation, it will be apparent'that by providing independent catch devices for each door, the couplings between the doors will be eliminated.

It will be understood that one of the advantages of the construction shown in Figs. 1 to 4 inclusive is to provide a great as possible door Il opening to avoid the necessity of unnecessary stooping on the part of the operator in moving the door or doors into closed position. With the practical in the operation of removing garments l from the closet and then performing the operation of closing the door.

It will be understood that by'constructing the door frame and its associated parts including the brackets, rollers, door members, and so forth, in the form of the unit which is assembled at the factory, and especially in assembled condition, the purchaser experiences little or no dimculty in assem-bling the complete cabinet. 'I'he bottom wall il is irstplaced on the floor and the back and side walls Il and i2'are then attached to the flanges of the bottom wall after which the garment hanger 39 is placed in positiony to support the upper edges of the side walls in spaced relation. The unit i5 is then placed in position and attached to the bottom wall and forward edges of the side walls in the usual manner and as indicated in Fig. 3, after which the top wall i3 is placed in position and secured to the walls II and I2 and the top rail I1 of the unit I5. The several securing devices are not shown since these are commonly known in this art. When the parts are assembled as above stated, it will appear that the cabinet or closet is ready for use.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A collapsible closet of the character described, comprising back, side and top and bottom walls, a front door frame unit coupled with the side and top and bottom walls and forming a dooropening in the closet, two flexible door members, means at the upper and lower portions of said unit and on the inner surface thereof for supporting the door members in rolled condition, reinforcing and finishing strips at the free edges of the door members mounted and movably guided in the door frame to guide the door members in their movement in said frame to open and close said door opening, `said door members being manually movable into closed position against the action of said rst e tom Walls, a front door frame unit coupled with the sideand top and bottom walls and forming a door opening in the closet, two flexible door members, means at the upper and lower portions of said unit` and on the inner surface thereof for supporting the door members in rolled condition, reinforcing and finishing strips at the free edges of the door members mounted and movably guided in the door frame to guide the door members in their movement in said frame to open and close said door opening, said door members being manually movable into closed position against the action of said vfirst named meansmeans for retaining the door members in closed position, means arranged longitudinally of the frame and constituting a unit part thereof coupling said door members together whereby the manual movement of one door member will operate the other of said door members. and said last named means including means whereby one of said door members will move a greater distance than the other of said door members in moving both door members into closed position. t

3. In a cabinet of the class described, a door and'door frame unit comprising an oblong rectangular frame, a pair of bracket supported in' connection with one Iend of 'the frame at'one side thereof, another pair of brackets on the same side of theframe and at the other end' thereof, a spring roller mounted in each pair of brackets, side rails of said rectangular frame having longitudinal grooves on the inner opposed surfaces thereof, said" grooves opening through the first named side of the frame adjacent each' end, two flexible door members, one of said door members having one end attached to one spring roller'and the other having one end attached to the other of said spring rollers, a finishing strip on the free end of each of said door members, said finishing strips and the side edges of the door members being movable in the grooves of the side rails of said frame, said strips being moved into abutting relationship with each other in moving the door members into closed position against the action of said spring rollers, and interengaglng couplings on said strips for retaining the door members in closed position.

4. In a. cabinet of the class described, a door and door frame unit comprising an oblong rectangular frame, a pair of .brackets supported in connection with one end of the frame at one side thereof. another pairof brackets on the same side of the frame and at the other end thereof a spring roller mounted in each pair of brackets, side rails of said rectangular frame having longitudinal grooves on the inner opposed surfaces thereof, said grooves opening through the first named side of thc frame adacent each end, two flexible door members, one of said door members having one end attached to one spring roller and the other having one end attached to the other of said spring rollers, a finishing strip on the free end of each of said door members, said finishing strips and the side edges of the door members being movable in the grooves of the side rails of said-frame. said strips being moved into abutting relationship with each. other in moving the door members into closed position against the action of said spring rollers, interengaging couplings on said strips for retaining the door members in closed position, means involving strands coupled with the strips of each door member and guided in members supported in said frame whereby the movement of one door member into closed position will move the other of said door members into closed position, and the coupling of the strands with said door members and frame being such as to provide differential movement of the door members one with respect to the other.

5. In a cabinet of the class described, a door and door frame unit comprising an oblong rectangular frame, a pair of brackets supported in connection with one end of the framev at one side thereof, another pair of brackets on the same side of the frame and at the other end thereof a spring roller mounted in each pair of brackets, side rails of said rectangular frame having longitudinal grooves on the inner opposed surfaces thereof, said groovesopening through the first named side of the frame adjacent each end, two flexible door members. one of said door members having one end attached to one spring roller and the other having one end attached to the other of said spring rollers, a finishing strip on the free end of each of said door members, said finishing strips and the side edges of the door members being movable in the grooves of the side rails of said frame, said strips being moved into abutting relationship with each other in moving the door members into closed position against the action of said spring rollers,

interengaging couplings on said strips for retaining the door members in closed position, means involving strands coupled with the strips of each door member and guided in members supported in said frame whereby the movement of one door member into closed position will move the other of said door members into closed position, theicoupling of the strands with said door members and frame being such as to provide differential movement of the door members one with respect to the other, means for guiding the door members between the grooves and said spring rollers, and means for limiting the opening movement of said door members.`

6. A container of the class described having a front opening, means forming a reinforcing frame bordering said opening, two closure members composed of flexible material supported at opposite end portions of the container adjacent said opening, means for guiding said members in the frame in the movement thereof into open and closed positions, means coupling said members together whereby the movement of one of said members in at least one direction in said frame will move the other of said members in the opposite direction, and said last named means including means whereby one of said members will be moved a greater distance in the frame than the other of' said members.

'7. In a cabinet of the class described having an opening at one 'side thereof, a frame bordering said opening, two door members slidably engaging the frame controlling said opening, a spring roller for each door member, said door members being composed of flexible material and normally wound upon said spring rollers, means for mounting one spring roller within the top of the cabinet adjacent said frame, means for mounting the other spring roller in the bottom of the cabinet adjacent said frame, said door members being manually movable into closed position against the action of said Spring rollers, means for coupling the door members when moved into closed position and abutting relationship whereby in the release of said last named means the door members will be automatically operated by said spring rollers, other means coupling the door members together whereby the manual operation of one door member against the action of its spring roller will actuate the other door member against the action of its spring roller, and said last named means including means for imparting a greater movement to one of the door members than is attributed to the other of, said door members.

8. In a cabinet having an opening in one side thereof, a unitary rectangular frame detachable with respect to the cabinet and bordering said opening, inner opposed surfaces of the side rail of the frame having longitudinal channels, two door members composed of flexible material supported within the cabinet at the ends of said frame, said door members each slidably engaging the channels of the frame to control the opening of said cabinet, spring rollers supporting said door members in roller condition, means retaining the door members in closed position against the action of said spring rollers, means for guiding the flexible doors from the spring rollers into the channels of said frame and means supporting said spring rollers upon inner surfaces of said frame to constitute a unit part thereof.

9. In a cabinet having an opening in one side thereof, a unitary rectangular frame detachable with respect to the cabinet and bordering said opening, inner opposed surfaces of the side rails of the frame having longitudinal channels, two door members composed of fiexible material each slidably engaging the channels of the frame to control the opening of said cabinet, means at the ends of said frame and upon inner surfaces thereof and constituting a unit part of said frame to which one end portion of each door member is secured, whereby said door members constitute a unit part of Said frame, reinforcing and finishing strips at the other free edges of the door members mounted and movably guided in the door frame, and means supported on the frame at each side thereof and -coupled with both door members, whereby the movement of one of said members in at least one direction in said frame will move the other of said members in the opposite direction in controlling said door opening.

HARRY DERMAN. 

